Check out some common stormwater vocabulary terms below!
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Bacteria | Single-celled, or simple, organisms not visible to the naked eye, can survive in extreme conditions. |
| Benthic Macroinvertebrate | Benthic (meaning "bottom-dwelling") macroinvertebrates are small aquatic animals and the aquatic larval stages of insects. |
| Catch Basin | A depression, trench, or pit, which is a collection point for stormwater drainage from an outside surface area. |
| Cistern | A tank or reservoir for holding rainwater. |
| Clean Water Act | Federal law established in 1972, the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the US. |
| Climate Change | The long-term alteration of temperature and typical weather patterns in a place. |
| Dissolved Oxygen | The amount of oxygen that is present in water. |
| Drinking water | Potable water - Water is free from harmful bacteria, germs, suspended impurities and salts. It is clear, colorless and odorless. |
| Erosion | The geological process in which earthen materials are worn away and transported by natural forces such as wind or water. |
| Estuary | A partially enclosed body of water where fresh water from rivers and streams mixes with salt water from the ocean. It is an area of transition from land to sea. |
| Fertilizer | A substance (such as manure or a chemical mixture) used to make soil more fertile. |
| Flood | A condition of overflowing rivers. |
| Floodplain | Area next to a creek or river that floods. |
| Geographic Information System (GIS) | A system that creates, manages, analyzes & maps all types of data. GIS connects data to a map, integrating location. |
| Green Space | Land that is partly or completely covered with grass, trees, shrubs, or other vegetation. |
| Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) | The range of measures that use plant or soil systems, permeable pavement or other permeable surfaces or substrates, stormwater harvest and reuse, or landscaping to store, infiltrate, or evapotranspirate stormwater . |
| Hydrology | A science dealing with the properties, distribution, and circulation of water on and below the earth's surface and in the atmosphere. |
| Impervious or Impermeable | Any surface or groundcover that has no capacity to absorb or infiltrate water. |
| Nitrogen | A naturally occurring element that is essential for growth and reproduction in both plants and animals. |
| Non-Potable Water | Water is captured, treated, and used for non-drinking purposes, such as toilet flushing, clothes washing, and irrigation. |
| Pervious | Any surface or groundcover that allows water to pass through or infiltrate. |
| Pesticides | Any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest. |
| PH | Indicates acidity of a solution on a scale of 0 to 14, with pH 7 being neutral. |
| Phosphorus | Nonmetallic chemical element of the nitrogen family. |
| Pollutant | A substance or energy introduced into the environment that has undesired effects, or adversely affects the usefulness of a resource. |
| Potable Water | Water that is safe to drink or use, drinking water. |
| Precipitation | Water that is falling from the sky, could be rain drizzle, snow, sleet or hail. |
| Rain Barrel | A water tank used to collect and store rain water runoff. |
| Rain Garden | A garden that uses plants and layers of soil, sand and mulch to retain rainwater, reducing the amount of polluted runoff that reaches storm drains and local waterways. |
| River Basin | The land area drained by a river and its tributaries. |
| Sediment | Loose particles of sand, silt and clay that settle on the bottom of rivers, lakes, estuaries and oceans. |
| Storm Drain | A drain built to carry away excess water in times of heavy rain. |
| Stormwater | Water that originates during precipitation events and during snow/ice melts. Stormwater can infiltrate into the soil, evaporate into the air, or runoff into nearby surface waters. |
| Stormwater runoff | Excess rainfall that does not infiltrate and instead flows over the surface of the land. |
| Stream Buffer | Natural boundaries between local waterways and existing development. |
| Stormwater Swale | A long, gently sloping, landscaped depression that collects and cleans stormwater. |
| Topography | The study of the land and water features of an area. |
| Tree Canopy | Refers to the layer of tree leaves, branches, and stems that provide tree coverage of the ground when viewed from above. |
| Wastewater | Water carrying wastes from homes, businesses and industries that is a mixture of water and dissolved or suspended solids. |
| Water Cycle | The process n which water travels in a sequence from the air through condensation to the earth as precipitation and back to the atmosphere by evaporation. |
| Watershed | An area or ridge of land that separates waters flowing to different rivers, basins, or seas. |
| Wetland | Saturated or nearly saturated soils most of the year that form an interface between land-based and aquatic environments. |